To be honest, I'm not sure where to put it but I think this forum fit best.

A bit of background on the situation. My friends husband recently enlisted in the Army. His whole reason for joining the Army was because he wanted a career change, and to get his Bachelors degree. He graduated boot camp and is at AIT, but finishes up his AIT within the next month or so. He found out where he is going to be stationed and that he'll most likely deploy to Iraq shortly after arriving at his duty station. How accurate this is, I'm not sure but I wouldn't doubt it.

This morning, my friend sends me a text message this morning telling me she wants my husband to talk to her husband. Also, she tells me that her husband wants to go AWOL because he doesn't want to die in Iraq, and he thinks going AWOL is worth it. What the hell do you tell someone who has said this?

yeah um AWOL is not worth it. Thats just stupid. They will find him, and if they dont at first, they just wait for him to f up on his own. Thats just so dumb. I cant believe someone would do that. I get really upset about this. If he wants out bad enough there are ways to get out.

Err this upsets me. Did he not know what happens when you join the Army?

yeah im sorry but didnt he know that it was highly likely that he would be deployed when joining the army right now?

but i can relate to this situation-sort of. there is a friend of db's family who's son joined the army and went awol after boot camp. he has been out and awol for over 2 years. db and i totally and completely DISAGREE with this and db says that mostly all that can happen short of turning him in is to just wait for him to eff up and eventually he will get caught. he is the one that has to live in fear of getting caught for something like that. how cowardly! it makes me so mad that there are so many men and women deployed risking their lives and then people like him go awol. sorry it's a touchy subject but i would highly encourage him to not go awol. that is just not honorable and it is not something your friend will want hanging over her shoulders. also he should have deff thought out the pros and cons of joining before he joined...he chose to join he needs to do what is required of him. i hope he decides to do the right thing. :goodvibes

One of our friends went AWOL. He just didn't get on the plane to deploy. Here's the long story of what happened.

He comes back from his 2nd tour (was a 6 month tour) and got to see his wife and his newborn baby. He got orders to redeploy in 2 weeks for 4 months. He was set to get out in 3 months. He decided that he would ask his wife to swallow pills so he wouldn't have to go.

She swallowed a bottle of tylenol in the parkinglot of the hospital. They went in, did all that stuff. She got him out of going. So he's sitting at home, ignoring the newborn, wife is in the hospital, the roommate's wife is taking care of the baby. (he only liked the baby for the 1st week he was home.)

He gets orders to redeploy in 2 weeks AGAIN for 3 months this time. :lmao

He decides and TELLS his superiors that he IS NOT getting on the plane to go. They tell him he BETTER go, or he will be sorry. They send a packet saying what Dishonorable Discharge will do to his life. They sent one to him, one to his parents. His mom supports him NOT going. The time rolls around to go, and he just doesn't go to the airport or whatever it was. He kept reporting to work this whole time.

Then they finally realize he's not where he's supposed to be (took about 2 weeks). They sent some MPs or something to get him at his house, and he is restricted to base. He stays on base for a week, decides he's bored and wants to go home. He leaves his car on base, and has his wife pick him up. He stays home. He got caught at home, got restricted to base again. Then he went home on weekends because no one cared enough to check on weekends.

He got a court date for the AWOL, and he then decided to claim mental illness. He had just had a counseling session, and his wife said he was fine (we were all concerned about PTSD). He went to court over a period of 2 months or so, and they ended up letting him out of the army. ONLY because he was so close to getting out, and because they really DID think that he had PTSD even though he wasn't diagnosed with it. He most likely really does. He didn't get an honorable or medical, he got a general discharge.

I don't know what your friend's husband is thinking, he will not be able to hide from them and provide for his family. He may be able to get out, but it would most likely be dishonorable and he'd be screwing over his family in the long run.

yeah um AWOL is not worth it. Thats just stupid. They will find him, and if they dont at first, they just wait for him to f up on his own. Thats just so dumb. I cant believe someone would do that. I get really upset about this. If he wants out bad enough there are ways to get out.

Err this upsets me. Did he not know what happens when you join the Army?

:dunno I can't say but I believe that he thought he wouldn't deploy because of his MOS. While in boot camp, he started to regret joining the Army (which he still does).

He seems to think that going AWOL is worth it, but I don't think he realizes the consequences of it especially considering he has three kids. I'm not sure there's a way to change his mind at this point either.

:dunno I can't say but I believe that he thought he wouldn't deploy because of his MOS. While in boot camp, he started to regret joining the Army (which he still does).

He seems to think that going AWOL is worth it, but I don't think he realizes the consequences of it especially considering he has three kids. I'm not sure there's a way to change his mind at this point either.
Then he needs to talk to his higher ups, and let them know. There are ways to get out. unable to adapt is a big one. I hate to say it, but tehre are tons of sites on the internet dedicated on how to get out of the army. There are so many other ways than going AWOL. What does his wife think? Is she ok with it?

yeah im sorry but didnt he know that it was highly likely that he would be deployed when joining the army right now?

but i can relate to this situation-sort of. there is a friend of db's family who's son joined the army and went awol after boot camp. he has been out and awol for over 2 years. db and i totally and completely DISAGREE with this and db says that mostly all that can happen short of turning him in is to just wait for him to eff up and eventually he will get caught. he is the one that has to live in fear of getting caught for something like that. how cowardly! it makes me so mad that there are so many men and women deployed risking their lives and then people like him go awol. sorry it's a touchy subject but i would highly encourage him to not go awol. that is just not honorable and it is not something your friend will want hanging over her shoulders. also he should have deff thought out the pros and cons of joining before he joined...he chose to join he needs to do what is required of him. i hope he decides to do the right thing. :goodvibes

That's exactly what my sister said when I told her.

I understand how it is a touchy subject because I've dealt with them before with friends and my husbands soldiers. It makes me angry but I'm trying to put the anger aside, and that won't last long. She is suppose to call me sometime and talk to me about it, but we'll see. I hope he does the right thing too.

One of our friends went AWOL. He just didn't get on the plane to deploy. Here's the long story of what happened.

He comes back from his 2nd tour (was a 6 month tour) and got to see his wife and his newborn baby. He got orders to redeploy in 2 weeks for 4 months. He was set to get out in 3 months. He decided that he would ask his wife to swallow pills so he wouldn't have to go.

She swallowed a bottle of tylenol in the parkinglot of the hospital. They went in, did all that stuff. She got him out of going. So he's sitting at home, ignoring the newborn, wife is in the hospital, the roommate's wife is taking care of the baby. (he only liked the baby for the 1st week he was home.)

He gets orders to redeploy in 2 weeks AGAIN for 3 months this time. :lmao

He decides and TELLS his superiors that he IS NOT getting on the plane to go. They tell him he BETTER go, or he will be sorry. They send a packet saying what Dishonorable Discharge will do to his life. They sent one to him, one to his parents. His mom supports him NOT going. The time rolls around to go, and he just doesn't go to the airport or whatever it was. He kept reporting to work this whole time.

Then they finally realize he's not where he's supposed to be (took about 2 weeks). They sent some MPs or something to get him at his house, and he is restricted to base. He stays on base for a week, decides he's bored and wants to go home. He leaves his car on base, and has his wife pick him up. He stays home. He got caught at home, got restricted to base again. Then he went home on weekends because no one cared enough to check on weekends.

He got a court date for the AWOL, and he then decided to claim mental illness. He had just had a counseling session, and his wife said he was fine (we were all concerned about PTSD). He went to court over a period of 2 months or so, and they ended up letting him out of the army. ONLY because he was so close to getting out, and because they really DID think that he had PTSD even though he wasn't diagnosed with it. He most likely really does. He didn't get an honorable or medical, he got a general discharge.

I don't know what your friend's husband is thinking, he will not be able to hide from them and provide for his family. He may be able to get out, but it would most likely be dishonorable and he'd be screwing over his family in the long run.

Thanks for your story. I'm going to share it with my friend and hopefully she'll share it with her husband. Since she is new to the military world, I don't think she realizes how serious it is and how it can affect her family.

Then he needs to talk to his higher ups, and let them know. There are ways to get out. unable to adapt is a big one. I hate to say it, but tehre are tons of sites on the internet dedicated on how to get out of the army. There are so many other ways than going AWOL. What does his wife think? Is she ok with it?

Honestly, I don't know what my friend thinks about it. We haven't really talked about it besides what was mentioned in the texts she sent me. However, a part of me believes that she's ok with the idea because of being away from her husband and having her kids cry constantly for their dad.

Oh no..that would just be a bad idea to go AWOL..i met a guy once and he told me he went AWOL but turned himself in thats why he was still living in the barracks but was waiting to get sentenced to up to a year in army jail..i guess there are alot of people in the jail on the base here serving jail time for going AWOL.I hope he doesnt decide to go AWOL and asks what he needs to do to get discharged!

Well shit- sometimes people going AWOL does work.

LMAO The KittyHawk came down to Sydney in July 2005, I met some friends down there and I remember them telling me a guy they knew walked off the ship with a garbage bag full of his clothes- when he got pulled up by the MPs asking where he was going- he told them he was taking the garbage out and they let him go- he jumped on a taxi and wasn't found again lol!!

I have to laugh- he went AWOL in Australia. That's just so stupid and so funny at the same time. It's funny cos it's stupid. He won't get a job without a tax file number or visa and he had none. But they didn't find him.

So I guess he is probably out in the sticks where no one will find him, and people don't worry about proper jobs- it's just cash in hand.

So anyways,

I think it's normal for people to have the thought of AWOL going through their minds- I mean- it's normal to be scared about going to war. But really wanting to, planning to, or acting on it is wrong- not only will they screw their own lives up- they will screw their family's lives up too. And that's selfish. He needs to talk to a counsellor. But honestly, what the hell did he expect? IT'S WAR TIME- AND MORE THEN ANY OTHER BRANCH- THE ARMY DEPLOYS TO IRAQ! Ah.........dah :screwy :duh

Well shit- sometimes people going AWOL does work.

LMAO The KittyHawk came down to Sydney in July 2005, I met some friends down there and I remember them telling me a guy they knew walked off the ship with a garbage bag full of his clothes- when he got pulled up by the MPs asking where he was going- he told them he was taking the garbage out and they let him go- he jumped on a taxi and wasn't found again lol!!

I have to laugh- he went AWOL in Australia. That's just so stupid and so funny at the same time. It's funny cos it's stupid. He won't get a job without a tax file number or visa and he had none. But they didn't find him.

So I guess he is probably out in the sticks where no one will find him, and people don't worry about proper jobs- it's just cash in hand.

So anyways,

I think it's normal for people to have the thought of AWOL going through their minds- I mean- it's normal to be scared about going to war. But really wanting to, planning to, or acting on it is wrong- not only will they screw their own lives up- they will screw their family's lives up too. And that's selfish. He needs to talk to a counsellor. But honestly, what the hell did he expect? IT'S WAR TIME- AND MORE THEN ANY OTHER BRANCH- THE ARMY DEPLOYS TO IRAQ! Ah.........dah :screwy :duh

Well good riddance to bad rubbish, right? :giggle

LOL after I replied to this post i got an article in my email from military.com about people going AWOL during basic and training..here is the link if anyone wants to read it:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,138137,00.html?ESRC=army.nl

I believe if you get a dishonnorable discharge, you can't even work at McDonald's. Just suck it up. What did he even join? Just for the free stuff. This guys sounds like a real winner. Sorry about the bluntness and they typos

The more I think about this the more upset Im getting. I dont care what this dude does anymore, because if he dosent want to be in the Army, and he gets deployed thats not good either. I just hope he decides to do soemthing right, so he either can get out, or he can decide to shape up.

Id hate to think of him deploying and not pulling his weight and harming the lives of pther soldiers

I heard that going AWOL during war time- is a death penalty. However- thats an old law and it's not used, so they just get a slap on the wrists.


Well the idiot joined, and he knew that its war time- and he joined the ARMY of all branches- what did he think was going to happen? Seriously.........:screwy

It might sound like the easy way out, but it's not. He will NEVER be able to get another job again. Never. And if the military finds him he's in a lot of trouble. Going to war is a reality of joining the military. What made him sign on the dotted line?

I heard that going AWOL during war time- is a death penalty. However- thats an old law and it's not used, so they just get a slap on the wrists.


Well the idiot joined, and he knew that its war time- and he joined the ARMY of all branches- what did he think was going to happen? Seriously.........:screwy
exactly, I hate hearing about stuff like this.

What is his MOS? Why did he think he wouldnt go becuase of his mos

Maybe he is just freaking out right now. And he mentioned it kind've like I wish I could just. Maybe to some of you even saying it is dishonoring you're country. But I dunno IMO he sounds freaked out and that's perfectly normal. Now me personally if my dh knew him or well even if he didn't I would send him over there to sit down and talk to the guy. Find out what he's nervous/scared about and see if he couldn't talk some sense into the guy. We all have breakdowns from time to time and IMO it sounds like that's what's happening to this guy.

the man who's wedding was soooo much more important than the birth of our second child went AWOL like 6 months after the wedding. I am not sure exactly what happened just that after they got married he went AWOL. From what I remember the ex saying I believe hes at leavenworth right now but i am not sure. I think its stupid to go AWOL. It would just make things worse. IMO

People know what they are getting themselves into when they join the military, i think going AWOL is a childish move

AWOl is definitely a cowardly idea! He should have thought about deploying and all that before joining the Army. :duh

I know there are lots of guys up in Canada (I live just across the border, so it's a popular spot), that either went AWOL or dogged the draft and have been hiding out in Canada for like forty years now. Except, they're starting to get cracked down on if they try to go into the US now - and it's been forty years.

So, tell him he should seriously think about the long term, 'cause the US doesn't play like that right now. :dunno